Youth Sport Resources

The Greatest Victory! - Rachel Young

 

 

I wonder what you would say is the greatest victory you have ever seen?

 

Maybe you would say one of these famous sporting victories: 

Kelly Holmes winning the 1,500m at the 2004 Olympic Games to claim her second gold medal of the games!

 

After being 3-0 down at half time, Liverpool came back to win the European Cup!

 

Europe winning the Ryder Cup this year by such a great margin over the USA!

One of the greatest I have seen was when England defeated the mighty Australia in 2005 to win the Ashes!  Unbelievable scenes on that final day when we were waiting to see if the teams were going to come out again after bad light.  I remember watching the moment when England knew they had won it – what a thrill to have watched a closely fought battle between two great teams and for England to come out on top!  That was a great victory!

 

But there is a victory which is much greater and the cause of much more celebration than even this. 

A victory that defeated opposition much greater than Australia or the USA.

A victory much greater than anything we have ever seen or experienced.

 

Some of you will already know of this victory.  John speaks of it in a letter he wrote which is in the Bible – this is what he said:

 

‘And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.’  1 John 5v5

 

 

What VICTORY is John talking about here?

 

There are 3 stages of this victory that John is talking about here as he writes to his friends.

 

Stage 1 – Victory when Jesus died

 

John is speaking here of when Jesus died on the cross. 

But why did Jesus have to die on the cross for me?  For you?

 

Jesus went to the cross because I had turned my back on God, ignored him and wanted to live my life my own way, following my own rules.  I was completely cut off from God until Jesus intervened and took the punishment I deserve by dying on the cross.  Jesus took the punishment for me so that I could be back in relationship with God.  How amazing is that?

 

Look what this verse says.  John wrote it a little earlier on in his letter -

 

‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’  1 John 1 v 9

 

Because he died on the cross what does this verse tell us can happen, if we admit we have sinned and ignored God?

1)     He will forgive us our sins – the wrong we do will be forgiven!

2)     He will purify us from all unrighteousness – he will make us spotless and clean as if we have not sinned!

 

What an amazing victory Jesus won over sin when he died on the cross!

 

 

Stage 2 – Victory when Jesus rose

 

But, Jesus did not just die for us but after 3 days he rose again, conquering death!

 

Jesus did not stay in the grave.

Jesus rose again, back to life!

Jesus was victorious over death!

Death was not stronger than him.

 

By rising from the dead, Jesus demonstrated his power and authority over death.

Death was no match for Christ – he smashed death to pieces.

Jesus Christ conquered death and is alive today!

 

‘But we know that when he appears…..we shall see him as he is.’  1 John 3 v 2

 

'As he is' John says in his letter, not 'as he was' – this is because Jesus defeated death and is alive today!

 

What an amazing victory Jesus won over death when he rose again!

 

 

Stage 3 – Victory for the future

 

Not only that but these victories have amazing consequences.  Because of Jesus’ victory over sin and death, we have the offer of living forever with him in heaven!  Forever – how amazing is that!  Look at what another verse from John’s letter says;

 

‘And this is what he promised us – even eternal life.’  1 John 2 v 25

 

Through Jesus and all he has done from cross to the grave, we have the promise from him of victory in the future.  Eternal life in the most wonderful place, far greater than we could ever imagine – in heaven!  Heaven is a place where we will be living along with God and where the broken and evil things of this world will not be.  There will be no suffering of any kind, no more tears and no more pain.  Heaven will be far greater than anything we can ever imagine!  This is where the victory will be fully complete!

 

What an amazing victory Jesus offers us for the future!

 

But what does the rest of this verse that we started with mean?

 

‘Overcome the world’

 

Here John is saying that this victory, in its 3 stages, can overcome the evil, broken, sinful things of this world.

 

Jesus’ victory can overcome the greatest opponents we can ever face;

1)     the sin in our own hearts

2)     death because he has promised us eternal life

 

The victory when Jesus died on the cross and rose again is what overcomes the sin and death of this world and offers us victory for the future!

 

 

Who can join in this victory?

 

Remember the scenes at the final test match of the Ashes series last year – unbelievable scenes of celebration with large men hugging and dancing with each other, large red bellies on show and England flags being swung in the air.  They were all joining with the team celebrating the victory over Australia, sharing in the celebrations.

 

But who can share in this greatest victory over the world?

John goes on to explain this in the next verse.

 

 

‘Who is it that overcomes the world?

Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.’

1 John 5v5

 

What does this verse tell us about who can share in the victory?

 

Only he who believes

-          only those people who believe

-          not everyone who lives

-          we each have a choice to make!

 

BELIEVES IN WHO?  JESUS

-          believes that Jesus is the son of God

-          believes that he died and rose again to give us the victory.

 

 

What about you?

 

Maybe you are someone who already believes in this great victory already – how wonderful is that!  We should be thrilled!  What a privilege that through Jesus, we can know God and have this promise of sins forgiven and eternal life!  If this is you then let’s live our lives in a way which will please God in everything we do and as a way of saying thank you to him for this wonderful victory.  Let’s tell our friends about it– they must hear about this great victory and have a chance to respond to it as well!

 

But maybe you have just heard about this victory for the first time or perhaps you have been finding out about this Jesus from your friends but you have not decided to do anything about it. 

 

Here are some questions to consider;

 

Who do you say Jesus is?

Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God?

Do you believe he was victorious on the cross over sin and death?

What do you think of this offer of eternal life?

Do you want to share in this great victory?

 

 

Don’t ignore these questions – you must examine this victory for yourself. 

 

The next Ashes series is now underway in Australia and soon people will be talking of the victory from this series – the celebrations of summer 2005 will gradually fade into the history books.  But people will not going to stop talking about the greatest victory we have looked at here – the victory of Jesus Christ.  It has been talked about for thousands of years already and will be for thousands to come! 

 

Will you share in the greatest victory the world has ever seen?